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English Language Proficiency Standards - these are important to include in the language objectives when lesson planning and for determining which language domains are begin addressed with the lesson.

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Proficiency Level Descriptors - these are important to refer to when monitoring the progress of the English learners. They also serve as reminders of what students can do at each level of proficiency within each domain of language.

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ELLs with special education needs are entitled to both ELL and special education services

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ELLs with special education needs are entitled to both ELL and special education services

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This video disscusses the fact that EBs/ELs who also fall under SPED are entitled to both ESL things and SPED things. This important to remember and recognize that these students need both.

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ELLs with special education needs are entitled to both ELL and special education services

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English Learners With Special Education Needs Considerations

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English Learners With Special Education Needs Considerations

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This article highlights the considerations for ELLs with SPED. These considerations are important to know and be familiar with as well as practice in my career as an educator.

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Title III of NCLB (reauthorized as Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015) and other federal laws require that English Learners (ELs) who have been identified as having special education needs must receive both EL services and the appropriate special education services. Under the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the U.S. Department of Justice and OCR, EL students who have a disability must be identified and evaluated for special education services in a timely manner, as would any student suspected of having a disability.
Please consider the following checklist when referring and evaluating EL students for Special Education Services.

Assessing English Learners for Special Education Needs: Considerations and Guidelines

1. EL students in need of special education services must be identified and evaluated for disabilities in a timely manner.

2. EL students suspected of having one or more disabilities must be evaluated promptly to determine if the EL has a disability and whether the EL student needs disability-related services.

3. There is no waiting period or time limit on when EL students may be referred for a special education evaluation.

4. Disability evaluations may not be delayed because of a student's limited English proficiency or the student's participation in the EL program.

5. Educators must not identify or determine that EL students are students with disabilities solely because of their limited English language proficiency.

6. If an EL student is evaluated for special education services, Individualized Education Plan (IEP) teams must include someone with expertise in second language acquisition (i.e. EL Teacher )

7. EL screeners and assessments should be considered as part of special education evaluations.

8. IEP teams must consider the English language proficiency of ELs with disabilities in determining appropriate assessments and other evaluation materials.

9. When evaluating an EL student, special education evaluations must be provided in the child's native language, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. This will help ensure the student's language needs can be distinguished from their disability-related needed.

10. It is necessary to ensure that parents of ELs have the means to understand the proceedings of the IEP team meeting. Staff must arrange for an interpreter and translate documents.

11. Evaluations must use appropriate methods to carefully measure the student's abilities and not the student's English language skills.

12. EL student with disabilities are entitled to both language assistance and disability related special education services.

13. EL students with disabilities must be included in accountability testing.

14. IEP team process must be used to determine whether students need accommodations or should take an alternate assessment.

15. There are no alternate English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards for EL students with disabilities.

16. Should parents decline disability-related services, the district and the school remain obligated to provide language services to ELs, unless parents decline EL services as well.

17. EL and special education professionals collaborate and communicate before, during, and at the point exit from special education

18. To prevent over- and under-identification when compared to non-ELs, educators must accurately determine whether ELs are eligible for disability-related services.

Four potential factors that may contribute to the misidentification of special education needs, and learning disabilities among students who are ELs:

The evaluating professional's lack of knowledge of second language development and disabilities

Poor instructional practices

Weak intervention strategies

Inapropriate assessment tools

References:

U.S Department of Justice and Office of Civil Rights "Dear Colleague" Letter re English Learner Services. January 7, 2015.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-el-201501.pdf

U.S Department of Education. English Learner Toolkit for State and Local Education Agencies (SEAs and LEAs): Chapter 6.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/english-learner-toolkit/index.html

Butterfield, J. (2014). Meeting the needs of English learners with disabilities: Resource book : Goleta, CA: Santa Barbara County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA).

http://www.sbcselpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/EL-Resource-Book-Revised-6-14.pd

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English Learners with Special Education Needs / Overview

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Title III of NCLB (reauthorized as Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015) and other federal laws require that English Learners (ELs) who have been identified as having special education needs must receive both EL services and the appropriate special education services.

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8 Strategies for Teaching Math to English Learners

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8 Strategies for Teaching Math to English Learners

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This article highlights eight strategies for teaching math to ELLs. Every student needs to learn math regardless of the language barrier and these strategies help teach math more efficiently to ELLs.

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Classroom and ESL teachers often discuss difficulties they encounter when teaching math to English learners (ELs). The first step is to look at the challenges your students face when learning math in English. It's often said that "math is a universal language," but in my opinion, it's not. Teachers need to go beyond teaching students how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. And even those simple calculations can be taught differently in other cultures. In fact, the cultural backgrounds of our students are rich resources from which mathematical concepts may be developed in English. Here are eight strategies for teaching math to ELs.
1. Validate ELs' Prior Mathematical Knowledge
For example, teachers of ELs from South America should know that students are taught to show their work when solving division problems in a different way than is taught in the United States. In some cultures, the emphasis is on mental calculations, and students are not taught to show the process they use to solve a problem. I encountered this when I taught students from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Students from other countries may not learn math concepts in the same order as is taught in U.S. schools; a 4th grade student from another culture may have never studied geometry because it is taught at a higher grade. It's important to be aware of what your ELs know and what they have been taught when it comes to math so that you can validate that learning by building on it-rather than stumbling over it.
2. Provide Scaffolds to Support ELs' Understanding of Math Problems
Simplify the language of the math problem. Have students practice picking out key words and talk about what they mean using highlighters, Wiki Sticks, or sticky notes. Colored highlighters have been known to enhance memory performance. Highlighters and sticky notes also boost student engagement in the lesson you are teaching. One trick is to have ELs highlight the question they have to answer in a math problem or use a pen to eliminate unnecessary words. Wiki Sticks can also be used to underline key ideas in the math textbook, because they are not permanent and can be reused.
3. Use the Same Types of Scaffolds You Use for Other Content Areas
What scaffolds do you use when teaching English language arts and social studies? Use these same scaffolds when teaching math. Create vocabulary banks so that your students can turn-and-talk to classmates using mathematical terms. Access your ELs' prior knowledge and build on it. Modify teacher talk, provide adequate wait time, and use visuals to teach math concepts and language.
4. Preteach Math Vocabulary
Previewing and preteaching new math vocabulary words is an important scaffold necessary to help ELs understand mathematical concepts. Remember that your ELs are learning two new languages-English and the language of mathematics in English. We can't expect ELs to take a list of math vocabulary words from a chapter and look up the words in a dictionary. They require direct instruction of new math vocabulary and plenty of practice to develop math fluency in the concept.
5. Present Math Problems and Concepts Visually
I can't say enough about the importance of employing all kinds of visual supports when teaching ELs any content area. Use charts graphs, realia, diagrams, pictures, and graphic organizers. Word Walls should be used at all grade levels. Teach specifically the language of mathematics. Help students understand the different meanings of words such as table and how to use them correctly in a mathematical context.
6. Give Students Opportunities to Talk to Each Other
According to Kristina Robinson in an excellent article for Colorín Colorado, teachers should have ELs speak with other students in small groups or with a partner during whole class discussions. This may make them feel more comfortable trying out new vocabulary without the anxiety of speaking in front of the whole class. ELs will understand material better if they explain it to another student either in English or in their home language. Newcomers certainly benefit from hearing the explanation in their first language. Another way to help ELs talk about math is to ask for whole class, choral responses instead of calling on individual students.
7. Have ELs Create Their Own Math Notebook
A notebook dedicated to math vocabulary can be a boost for older math students in Grades 4-12. It can be set up to fit the age and needs of the students in your class. Words can include definitions in your ELs' own words and or in their own language. I've found that choral recitation can really increase ELs' oral participation in a lesson. If you provide a sentence frame similar to those used in other content areas, even beginning ELs will be able to write down responses and produce them orally.
8. Bridge the Gap Between Math and Real-World Issues
You may want to develop math projects that focus on themes or issues that are relevant to the cultural, racial, and linguistic composition of your classroom. Kwame Sarfo-Mensah, a middle school teacher in Boston, wrote in Edutopia that mathematics should not be taught in isolation. He finds that the best way to find a theme that your students will really care about is to ask them. His students, for example, selected the topic of police brutality, which had impacted them personally in their community. Sarfo-Mensah also suggests that teachers check their state math standards to see what mathematical concepts would apply to the issue that their students have chosen.

What strategies and scaffolds have you found most useful when teaching math and mathematical language to ELs? What have you found particularly challenging? Please share in the comments, below.

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| 8 Strategies for Teaching Math to English Learners

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Classroom and ESL teachers often discuss difficulties they encounter when teaching math to English learners (ELs). The first step is to look at the challenges your students face when learning math in English. It's often said that "math is a universal language," but in my opinion, it's not.

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This is a visual lines chart. For ELL students this helps them visual the important math vocabulary.

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Using Science to Develop ELLs' Language Skills

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Using Science to Develop ELLs' Language Skills

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This article contains lesson plans and materials that integrate language acqusition and sceicnce curriculum. The lesson plans in this article I could use in my future classroom.

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Using Science to Develop ELLs' Language Skills

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"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka! I found it!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov "Oh, you mean the life cycle." This was my pre-school daughter's response to my long explanation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly.

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Using ELL Strategies in the Science Classroom

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Using ELL Strategies in the Science Classroom

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This article lists strategies for using science with ELLs. I like the section that focuses on vocabulary scaffolding, I think this information would be beneficial in my future classroom

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How science teachers can use ELL strategies to help students have a better grasp of the vocabulary of science.

Middle school science students filter into the classroom, gradually transitioning to speaking English as they finish conversations in their first language, Korean or Chinese. One of a series of slides is up on the board, each cuing an activity to get them talking about the subject in the target language, preparing them for the challenge of the vocabulary-dense content area of science.

The volume of science terms discourages many students early on, especially students who don't often see themselves reflected in the content, particularly girls and students of color. To address the needs of the large language learner population at our school, the two of us-English language learner teacher Kent and science teacher Gina-teamed up to create resources to support students as they grow as both scientists and English speakers.

While these resources were designed with language learners in mind, the activities have proven highly effective in increasing confidence with science vocabulary for native English speakers as well.

Teachers can easily modify each of the resources below to fit different science units or even different content areas and support learners as they transition away from figuring out what to do and instead focus on content, skills, and vocabulary, reducing the amount of time needed for instructions. For example, when students see a vocabulary puzzle in class, they discuss with a partner or small group (in English or their first language) the multiple ways to approach it and then immediately get to work.

Supporting English Language Learners in Science Classes

Interactive student-to-student talk: Using the target language for frequent student vocalizations and student-to-student interactions is a primary goal and the main area we focused on when we developed these resources. Each class starts with an opportunity for students to warm up their science vocabulary, activate schema relevant to the day's lesson, or retrieve previously learned content, all while practicing their academic interpersonal English skills. We have slides and activities to engage students in partner talk using unit vocabulary, and teachers can easily adapt them for a range of content.

Vocabulary puzzles: Vocabulary puzzles tap visual, kinesthetic, and interpersonal modalities and can be differentiated with little difficulty. Teachers can scaffold the puzzles for different linguistic levels by cutting them into fewer larger pieces before tackling all the pieces separately. Students can also lay pieces on top of the completed puzzle, using it as a key. Once students are confident with the vocabulary, they can use the cards in a dominoes-style game where students make connections between different terms to build an interconnecting board.

Student roles in jigsaw discussions: Dividing up content using a jigsaw strategy gives students the chance to dig in more deeply with a smaller amount of information and offers all learners the opportunity to feel more like an expert about specific content material. This also allows for the leveling of source material to give every student an entry point into the topic. Clear student roles in the discussion ensure that every student is contributing and is engaged during the interactive portion of the jigsaw.

These tools also support effective collaborative talk as students are tasked with asking questions, summarizing main ideas, and using a recording tool to offer a window into their conversations. The teacher can easily change the roles to meet the needs of the students, content, or task.

Fishbowl discussions: Once students feel comfortable with the content vocabulary, it's important that they get an opportunity to apply it. Fishbowl discussions consist of a small group of students conversing about a unit-related topic while another group of students observes the discussion. Topics are designed to prompt debate, deep thinking, and connections to student experiences, as well as promote the application of unit content and vocabulary.

Tailoring both the student preparation sheet and the observation sheet gives the teacher the opportunity to guide students toward the right content and discussion norms. For example, after noticing that girls were often excluded from discussions involving groups that had a majority of boys, we added an "invites quieter member to share" section to the observations sheet.

The fishbowl format facilitates high-level discussions in the target language and supports students in developing academic and collaborative discussion skills. In classroom reflections, students often point to fishbowl discussions as the activity that really pushes them and helps them learn.

Students thrive in learning spaces where they can be engaged and successful-where they can feel themselves learning. Integrating activities like those above into a science or other content class gives every student entry points for success and the tools to support them in making progress. We encourage teachers to give these strategies a try, measure how classroom interactions shift, and plan their next steps in supporting all learners in communicating about scientific topics.

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Using ELL Strategies in the Science Classroom

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How science teachers can use ELL strategies to help students have a better grasp of the vocabulary of science.

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3 Strategies to Support English Language Learners in Social Studies

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3 Strategies to Support English Language Learners in Social Studies

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Social studies can be a tricky stubject teaching ELLs because they could lack background knowledge.  This article gives strategies to help make sure ELLs can comprehend and understand social studies material.

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3 Strategies to Support English Language Learners in Social Studies

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Scaffolding such as visual guides and templates can make it easier for ELLs to grasp material in courses with complicated vocabulary.

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Challenges for English Language Learners (ELLs) in Content Area Learning

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Challenges for English Language Learners (ELLs) in Content Area Learning

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This article recognizes the challenges that ELLs could face in learning social studies content. As a future educator, it is important to be aware of those challenges as this will help me in assisting them in their learning.

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Benefits of Using Summative and Formative Assessments in ESL Classrooms

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Benefits of Using Summative and Formative Assessments in ESL Classrooms

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This article states the benefits of using summative assessments in ESL classrooms. It highlights how it can help ELL students.

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The terms summative and formative assessments may be words typically associated with traditional schooling. However, they don't need to stay in traditional subject classrooms. Summative and formative assessments can be used to facilitate English language acquisition. They offer benefits to both English language students and teachers toward accomplishing language goals. We'll explain how in today's blog.
About us: Established in 2003, OnTESOL offers accredited online TESOL courses with unique lesson plan lab assignments and live workshop sessions.

Summative Assessments

Summative assessments are those typical end-of-course, end-of-semester, end-of-term tests we encounter in elementary and high school. These tests tell teachers, administrators, educational authorities, and parents whether learners achieved educational objectives during the term or course of study.

Summative assessments typically used at the end of a course of instruction to determine if the goals of a curriculum were achieved. They can be anything from the end of term assessments, research papers, standardized tests, and the like. As such, they measure longer periods of time and cover multiple learning objectives.

So, how can we, as English teachers use summative assessments to our advantage in ESL classrooms? One way is using them to determine how well learners acquired the language within a course. If, for example, the goal of a six-week English language program is for learners to be able to use English in six everyday activities (e.g., shopping at the mall, going to the dentist, flight travel, going to the doctor, eating out, and taking public transportation), they can be used to measure if learners have met this course goal.

Along those lines, summative assessments can also be used to measure learning for each element of the same course. The bottom line is, summative assessments are formal tests used to understand and quantify learner achievement of objectives. Summative assessments provide those grades and or percentages we see after student names. And, they're often cause for stress in these same students. But it doesn't have to be that way if we're aware of and can convey the benefits.

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Benefits for Students

1) Summative assessments offer an opportunity to refresh students' memories of what they previously learned.

2) Summative assessments reinforce the overall learning objectives of the course.

3) Summative assessments provide a snapshot for class members to see if they know the collective language points or not.

4) Summative assessments can tell learners if they should proceed to the next level.
By helping learners understand these points, we may be able to reduce their apprehension. Then, class members may be more apt to look forward to these times. As they prepare, remind learners of areas they may have forgotten or that need a little more focus.

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Benefits for English Teachers

1) Teachers and academic managers can use the results of summative assessments to guide their decisions for future curriculum development.

2) Summative assessments can help indicate overall progress and show if moving forward is practical.

3) Use summative assessments to demonstrate if learning has been achieved quantitatively. Use those measurable numbers to provide facts and figures to anyone who may want to inquire as to the effectiveness of a course of instruction.

Formative Assessments

Formative assessments, on the other hand, are tools that we can use to check how well students learned the material. They can be in the form of quizzes or assignments, games, group activities, projects, reports, presentations, progress checks, simple question and answer sessions, and so on. They help teachers measure in micro terms whether individual lessons, modules, goals, or short-term objectives have been met.

As English language teachers, we can use formative assessments like surgical instruments in language learning. They help us keep learners on the path toward language acquisition goals of the curriculum. We can also use results from formative assessments to make adjustments.
Finally, we can use formative assessments to enhance language acquisition by helping learners check individual progress within individual lessons.

Benefits for Students

1) Use formative assessments with regularity (e.g., a quiz every Friday). This way you can use them to provide an element of stability for learners.

2) Since formative assessments can take many forms, they can also break up the monotony of traditional classroom environments where the teach-test-teach system prevails.

3) Formative assessments do not require traditional numbered or lettered grades. They can simply be pass or fail, or even labeled with colors, stars, or other indicators. This takes some of the stress from learners and allows them to simply focus on language acquisition instead of grades.

4) Formative assessments reinforce language acquisition.

Benefits for English Teachers

1) We can use formative assessments to adjust our teaching methods or strategies.

2) Formative assessments can help us recognize weak areas. Since classrooms are groups, not all learners are at the same place. And, a private class is only one of many. So, we cannot put every learner into a one-size-fits-all approach. Formative assessments help identify those individual weak areas.

3) Formative assessments can help us identify problem areas more immediately than summative assessments - before it's too late to adjust.

4) Formative assessments can take any form. As such, they allow a great amount of flexibility for you, the teacher.

5) Formative tests help paint pictures of learning in a course of instruction. This allows you to make adjustments. And, they are different than summative tests which are more like taking photographs - it's too late to change anything once the photo's been taken.

6) Formative assessments help us see patterns in instruction that may need to be adjusted.

7) Formative assessments can help us decide whether to move forward or stay a little longer on a particular language point.

Read: Assessment and Evaluation in the ESL Classroom

Parting Thoughts

Which one is better? Formative or Summative Assessments? As English teachers, we don't always need to shy away from traditional classroom methods of assessment. We can put them to good use. English language learners could benefit more from strategically utilizing formative assessments. On the other hand, summative assessments are quite useful in determining if language acquisition has indeed taken place over the course of instruction. Read: What Is the Difference Between Formative and Summative Assessment?

Related Posts

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Benefits of Using Summative and Formative Assessments in ESL Classrooms | OnTESOL

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The terms summative and formative assessments may be words typically associated with traditional schooling. However, they don't need to stay..

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This video explains summative assessments.

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Summative Assessment

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This Course

Video Transcript

In this course, you will learn how to design assessments around the needs of your ELL students and their language level. You will learn how to incorporate language and content requirements for both formative and summative assessment types. You will learn to assess your ELL students through the use of project and task-based assignments. You will learn to use and modify rubrics to align to and measure student achievement of your language and content learning objectives. The course will also briefly cover strategies for supporting ELL students during standardized testing. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: * Conceptualize theories of authentic assessment as they apply to second language learners * Design formative assessment types incorporating language and content objectives * Design summative assessment types incorporating language and content objectives * Incorporate project and task-based assignments as assessment tools for ELLs * Design rubrics that align to language and content objectives for your ELL(s) * Apply the use of rubrics, both language and content, to the work of your ELL(s). * Support your ELL(s) as they participate in standardized testing

View Syllabus

Reviews

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AC

Mar 19, 2019

I strongly recommend this course since it unveils important facts about the evaluation process for educators and students as well.

Helpful?

MS

Feb 17, 2017

Another interesting course. It offers a wide range of resources and content, and the learning outcomes and objectives are clear.

Helpful?

From the lesson

Formative and Summative Assessment with the ELL in Mind

Welcome to week 2 of the course! The lessons this week focus a bit more specifically on the different types of assessment and how they uniquely impact our ELLs. We hope that you find some helpful strategies in the lessons provided. By the end of this module, you will be able to: identify purposes of formative and summative assessment types, employ a variety of formative assessments in the content classroom while keeping in mind ELL language acquisition, design plenary activities within the lesson plan as a means of formative assessment design summative assessments in the content classroom while keeping in mind ELL language acquisition, use "can-do" statements as a means of describing assessment criteria for language and content objectives. Let's get started!

Taught By

Claire McLaughlin

Senior International Educator

Ellen Manos

Senior International Educator

Transcript

[MUSIC] >> Hi, and welcome back to Assessing Achievement with the ELL in Mind. In this video, we're going to give you a brief overview of summative assessment, and its place within a content classroom, especially with our ELLs in mind. First, what is summative assessment? Summative assessment is the assessment of learning. In other words, what has the student learned by the end of the unit, the end of a course, or the end of a grade level. It is really a review of learning as compared to a standard. This includes content standards and national standards. In other words, in some way, the student's learning is measured to a set bar. Summative assessment measures what students have learned over a set period of time. This type of assessment can be teacher created, but it is often created by others, especially standardized tests. Often we see assessments at a grade and content level that are created by districts so that there are some comparative results among teachers and students. Summative assessment is supported by outcomes of formative assessment. So, often, the students participate in a variety of formative assessments that mirror some kind of task they have to complete on the summative assessment in preparation for it. Why is summative assessment important for ELLs in the content classroom? First and foremost, summative assessment can provide a diagnostic assessment of the student. Often times ELLs are asked to complete a language exam prior to entering content classrooms. This will give the content teacher a basis for the student's language abilities. Next, summative assessment provides information to a third party. This could be the administration team, the school office, the district office, or it could simply be another teacher that the student has in a different content area. Often summative assessment results are including in a student's transcripts or permanent file. For ELLs summative assessment is important because it gives them a basis for inclusion. Often educational opportunities related to college, scholarships or federal monies, are tied to assessment results. Through participation in these assessments, ELLs are provided those same opportunities. Summative assessment measures the language and the content knowledge mastered, and gives teachers an opportunity to snapshot the ELL's best work within the content area. There are many different types of summative assessment. The first and most major type is standardized tests, these fall under the realm of summative assessment. As they are measured to a standard or a bar that the students are expected to meet, after completing a certain grade or content area. Other types of summative assessment could be a test, multiple choice or short answer, for example, it could be a written or oral presentation, or it could be a performance task. In the case of these last three examples, the summative assessment would come at the end of a unit or a lesson and is often teacher created. All students would be held to, and graded on, a common standard or rubric. Though their purposes are different, formative and summative assessment play complementary and special roles within the content classroom, especially with the ELL in mind.

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Summative Assessment Loading... This Course Video Transcript In this course, you will learn how to design assessments around the needs of your ELL students and their language level. You will learn how to incorporate language and content requirements for both formative and summative assessment types.

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Supporting English Language Learners with Formative Assessments

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Supporting English Language Learners with Formative Assessments

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This article talks about how a teacher can use formative assessments to benefit and support their ELLs

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By Sarah Ottow
The Latin root word for "assessment" is assidere which means to sit beside. In my work as an English Language Learner (ELL) specialist, I advocate for educators to intentionally sit beside their students to more deeply understand and support their learning trajectory at the classroom level. That is to say, I strongly advocate for an intentional formative assessment approach for ELLs.
Schools can go beyond traditional summative and interim measures to ensure a more balanced assessment approach that brings to light the nuanced and complex process of academic language development. By implementing formative assessments for ELLs, educators can develop a "language lens" that uncovers and showcases the growth of this culturally and linguistically diverse population.

Where do we start?

First, we can examine what comprises our current assessment systems in place. We have large-scale, "big data" summative assessments that give us "big data" once a year on student proficiency. We also have interim assessments that measure growth against benchmarks periodically throughout the year, often with the audience largely being district and school-level stakeholders.
These summative and interim assessments provide "snapshots" of ELL performance and are not always reliable or valid on the ELL population. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves if we have systemic, systematic formative measures in place that provide feedback on teaching and learning specifically for our ELLs? Do we have a "photo album" approach of ELL development? If not, we can add specific formative practices into our assessment system that celebrate student growth and provide next steps for instruction at the classroom level.

What are some effective formative assessment practices for ELLs?

What's important to remember is that formative assessment is flexible and intended to focus on feedback for both the teacher and the student. As an initial step, I highly recommend that teachers keep portfolios of student writing samples to show individual student growth over time. Through portfolios like journals and learning logs, student work can be the centerpiece in conferences and school data meetings.
Next, I suggest that teachers work with students to co-create appropriate goals for using more sophisticated academic language. It's critical to promote student ownership of the assessment process through goal setting, self-assessment as well as peer assessment opportunities.

How can collaboration strengthen formative assessment?

A critical step in strengthening ELL formative assessments is to create and sustain collaborative time to analyze student work. Evidence-based conversations between educators about what students are producing can directly lead to ideas for effective student feedback and instruction. Professional learning communities are also opportunities for collaboration with ELL specialists to deepen content teachers' understanding of language and literacy. One final tip is to consider building data walls of multiple measures of ELL data quarterly to facilitate data-driven coaching cycles and team planning. In these ways, we can offer a "photo album" approach to show progress over time, celebrating students' journey of academic language development.

We know that ELLs are a diverse group of students with unique assets and varying factors affecting academic performance. Many educators need support in reaching ELLs and teaching academic language yet they often don't know where to start. By implementing more formative assessments for ELLs with the appropriate language supports, teachers can better understand their students and become stronger teachers of academic language. After all, all teachers are indeed language teachers!

Formative Assessment Ideas

Journals or learning logs to show growth over time in a portfolio

Academic conversations to explain new learning

Cornell notes or graphic organizers to structure note-taking

Student-teacher conference or small group discussions to recount learning

Exit slips to show "I think..", "I wonder...", "I still want to know..."

Fill-in-the-blank or "cloze" activity using sentence frames

Reciprocal teaching

Recording student language through technology

Drawing or role playing

Gallery walk of student work where students give each other feedback on stickies

Word or concept sorts based on unit themes or student-created categories

One word or one phrase response using whiteboards

Self-checklist or peer-checklist

Label or sequence visuals like pictures, photos or realia (real life objects)

Student-generated questions for peers

This blog is part of the Supporting English Language Learners Series with support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more, stay tuned for the culminating podcast, infographic and publication.
For more, see:
Sarah Ottow is the founder, director and lead coach at Confianza: Educating for ELL Equity. Follow Confianza on Twitter: @ELL_Confianza Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update. This post includes mentions of a Getting Smart partner. For a full list of partners, affiliate organizations and all other disclosures please see our Partner page.

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Supporting English Language Learners with Formative Assessments

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By Sarah Ottow - By implementing formative assessments for ELLs, educators can develop a "language lens" that uncovers and showcases their growth.

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This visual helps explain formative assessments.

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Identifying and Supporting Gifted and Talented ELs 

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Identifying and Supporting Gifted and Talented ELs 

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Many GT ELs are not identified. This article gives ways to be sure a classroom teacher identifies and supports them.

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Ellevation: ML Program Management Tools for K-12

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Identifying and Supporting Gifted and Talented ELs

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English learners (ELs) are largely underrepresented in gifted and talented programs. We know many multilingual students qualify, so to a large extent, the issue is rooted in poor identification, deficit-based thinking, and other barriers that stand in their way. We had a conversation with Marcy Voss, Educational Consultant and ELL Coach with 36 years of experience in public education, to discuss what teachers need to know to better identify gifted and talented ELs and how to create learning environments that both support and challenge these and all students. 1.

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Texas State Plan for the Education of GIFTED/TALENTED STUDENTS

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Texas State Plan for the Education of GIFTED/TALENTED STUDENTS

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GT students from TEA. Details of GT + ELLs.

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Tech Tools to Support English Learners’ Literacy and Language Development

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Tech Tools to Support English Learners’ Literacy and Language Development

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Technology is all around us. We can use it to benefit ELLs. This article gives ways to do that.

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Literacy Daily is a space to connect educators, students, and leaders with the latest news, ideas, tools, strategies, and research in literacy instruction.

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Teaching vocabulary with digital cameras

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Teaching vocabulary with digital cameras

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Vocabulary instruction is important for ELs. You can use technology, such as a digital camera, like in this youtube video to assist with vocabulary instruction.

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Teaching vocabulary with digital cameras

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Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing

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Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing

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This article focuses on how to make writing welcoming and enjoyable for ELLs as well as how to make writing academically beneficial.

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"The meaning of even a single word is rather more complex than one might imagine."

- Editors of the American Heritage Dictionary, 1980, p. viii

"Teacher, do we need our pencils today?" my Puerto Rican elementary students would urgently ask when I came to their classroom to escort them to my English as a Second Language classroom. I was a student teacher in a Massachusetts elementary school, and it took me awhile to figure out the correlation between the pencil and hallway behavior. If I replied, "Yes, you should bring a pencil," the walk to my classroom took 15 minutes and involved a lot of disruptions, student squabbles, drifting students and other various misbehaviors. As a student teacher, I was very focused on keeping order and creating a challenging learning environment. If I replied, "No, you don't need a pencil today," the walk to my classroom took about five minutes, even with a stop at the drinking fountain.

So, what was the correlation? Writing. The students knew that if they had to bring a pencil they would have to do writing in the class, and they dreaded it. If they didn't need a pencil, we would be working on projects or doing more verbal work, and they liked that. What they weren't expecting was that half-way through my student teaching, I bought 10 boxes of pencils and kept them in my classroom, so they never had to bring a pencil to class - I had plenty to go around. This improved the hallway behavior, but still left me with the question of how to improve ESL student writing when they were frustrated by the practice and went to great lengths to avoid it.

I have been teaching ESL for many years and there is no perfect solution to this problem; however, I do believe I have added quite a few writing activities to my bag of tricks and improved my ability to differentiate writing tasks based on student ability. As I improved my ability to ensure that each student would be successful in the writing activity, their confidence increased, and they were less likely to engage in disruptive behavior. You know what I'm talking about - the long, dramatic search for a pencilâ€¦ and then paperâ€¦ or the meandering walk about the room to get yesterday's writing draft, or the ever popular, "15 minute pencil sharpening" session. I hope some of the writing activities I share with you will help you to reduce anxiety in your ESL students and increase their language and writing skills.

There is a very important correlation between writing and language development. As students develop language skills, they often develop listening skills first (lots of input they can understand), then speaking (they begin to formulate their ideas in the second language), then reading (they can understand the sound/symbol correspondence of the new language and make sense of the words) and finally writing (they have enough language to express their own ideas in writing). This is not true for 100% of language learners, but it is true for the majority of them. Why is writing often the last skill to emerge? It almost seems that reading would be more difficult because the student needs to sound out words and understand the author's message. It would seem writing might be easier because students are sharing their own ideas already in their heads and simply putting them on paper. However, writing requires a lot more processing of language in order to produce a message.

First the student must have an idea, then think of the appropriate way to say it, then start to write it and spell it correctly, and then create another sentence to continue to communicate the idea. If we add the students' worry that they are making huge, embarrassing errors or that their ideas aren't very good in the first place, then we begin to understand the complexity involved in writing in a second language. In fact, the way we communicate, or the way students put their ideas on paper, is largely influenced by their culture. In some of my classes, my Asian students were very confused when I told them to revise their writing because this was a "first draft." In their experience they had always written an item once and submitted it as "the final," and then the teacher would correct it. The idea that they had to write it over again didn't make sense to them. Students from other cultures may have developed a storytelling style that involves laying out a lot of background information and detail and takes quite a while to get to the point. In most western writing, we expect a topic sentence or a lead paragraph that will tell us what the point is, and then everything written after that leads to a direct conclusion. Many of my students had great difficulty connecting their ideas this way.

With that said, teachers have a big task in improving ESL student writing skills, but the payoff for instructional dedication can be great. A researcher on adolescent literacy at the University of Minnesota, David O'Brien, did a study on improving the reading skills of adolescent students. All of the students were involved in a six week study and during that time they were responsible for creating brochures and other types of communication on computers. They had criteria to input a certain amount of text and graphics to create a final project. This required lots of thought and revisions to achieve the final result. At the end of the six weeks the students took a reading test and the majority of them had improved their reading skills significantly. This was a very interesting result, considering that the teachers had not focused on teaching reading skills. The conclusion was that students used meta-cognition to process language and work with it in a more meaningful way, so that consequently their reading skills improved even though they were mostly working on writing.

Additional positive academic results have been seen in the "90 90 90 Schools." These are schools that researchers have identified as 90% poverty, 90% students of color and 90% achieving standards. This is a most remarkable combination in the educational world. The researchers examined these schools and found one common denominator among them - they all focused on developing writing skills. Each school had an agreed upon writing curriculum and methodology that was used at all grade levels, and student writing was prominently displayed throughout the building and in classrooms. Students used writing in all content areas to demonstrate academic concepts learned. In the end, 90% of the students in these schools were able to pass state grade-level tests based on the academic standards.

Now that I have hopefully convinced you that all your hard work will pay off, I would like to introduce some effective writing activities. I would like to acknowledge that there are many types of effective writing instruction used in classrooms today, including process writing, graphic organizers as writing planning tools, vocabulary stretchers, etcâ€¦ and all of those are beneficial to ELL students. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on a few writing activities that I think are particularly useful when working with students with a wide-range of English language skills.

How to differentiate writing activities:

With some pre-planning, a teacher can create a writing assignment that will allow every student to be successful. For example, the teacher may give a writing assignment that has A, B and C levels (or they can be number or color-coded).

ELL students at Level A copy a sentence or short passage exactly as it is written. This helps beginning-level students who are not very familiar with the language, but may be able to interpret some of the information as they copy it.

Level B students receive a paragraph or two that has blank spaces in the text. The students write the word or phrase that completes the sentence. This allows the student to write an amount that is not overwhelming and helps them comprehend the information.

Level C students write on their own, but perhaps they receive paragraph prompts or are allowed to look in a book, but must put the idea in their own words. After some practice with this system and getting to know your students' English language skills, you will be able to create a system that works best for your class.

Language Experience Approach

The Language Experience Approach draws on instructional techniques used with younger children who have not yet developed literacy skills. In this approach, the teacher presents information to the students, or they have an "experience" of some sort - for example, a field trip, or acting out a scene in a book. Then the students tell the teacher what to write on the board to explain the experience. This may be useful as an activity for a volunteer or teacher's aide to use with a small group of ESL students during literacy time. Here are the steps.

1. Experience something - for example, the students have listened to the story, "The Little Red Hen" and then acted it out.

2. The teacher stands by the board or a large sheet of paper and says to the students, "Tell me the story of the Little Red Hen."

3. As each student tells a part of the story, the teacher writes it down on the board, just as it was stated. For example, a student might say, "The Little Red Hen work so hard and nobody want help her." This continues until each student has spoken or the story is finished.

4. Then the teacher tells the students, "Let's read the story together and listen to see if the story makes sense and if there is anything we want to change."

5. After reading the story, the teacher asks students if they want to change anything. For example, one student may raise her hand and say, "I think it should say, "worked" not "work." The teacher may ask other students if they agree or disagree.

6. If the suggested change is correct, the teacher offers praise and moves on to the next suggestion. If the suggested change is not correct, the teacher should help the student analyze the suggested change. For example, if the student says, "I think it should say, â€˜The Little Red Hen she worked so hardâ€¦." The teacher would ask if others agree and see if there is discussion, then the teacher could point out that the Little Red Hen is the pronoun or "name," so in English we don't need to put it in twice. We can say "She worked so hard." Or "The Little Red Hen worked so hard."

7. When students have analyzed and corrected the whole text, the teacher may either circle a few more spots where students missed corrections and they can be challenged to figure out what the change should be, or the students can be instructed to copy the text with the corrections included.

8. As a final activity, students are instructed to take the story home and read it to three people and bring it back with signatures.

After this activity, usually even beginning-level ELL students are able to read the story to others because it was their experience, it is in their own words, and they have worked with the text in a meaningful way.

Sentence Auction

This activity helps students analyze common writing errors through a personalized activity since they are trying to buy their own sentences. Once a week or once a month, a teacher can hold a "Sentence Auction." The teacher takes sentence examples from student writing - some of which have errors and some that don't, and writes them on a handout or overhead projector. The identity of the student who wrote each sentence is not revealed. To begin the sentence auction, each student is given an "account" of perhaps $300. The students are told to "bid" on the good sentences. The winner is the student with the highest number of "good" sentences.

1. The teacher takes on the persona of an "Auctioneer" and opens the bidding at $10.

2. The teacher reads out the sentence confidently exactly as it is written. "Him want to go to school very bad." Who will give me $10?"

3. The students take turns bidding until the teacher decides who has "won" the bid.

4. Some sentences will not sell because students will know they are "bad." Just leave those sentences and move to the next one.

5. After all the sentences have been sold, the teacher goes through the list and the students say whether the sentence was good or bad. If they agree that it was a bad sentence, then the teacher asks them to explain how they can make it a "good" sentence.

6. Finally the students can count how many "good" sentences they have (since they may have bought some bad ones) and a winner is declared.

7. The teacher may want to give a little prize or certificate to the student. In a variation of this activity students can work in pairs or groups to buy the sentences.

Error correction

I have never "corrected" my students' writing mistakes, at least not in the traditional way. I have always told my students, "If I correct your English, I improve my English; if you correct your English, you improve yours." I handled corrections in one of two ways: either I identified what errors I would be looking for in the writing submission or I told them I would only circle five errors in the whole paper. If I pre-set the errors I would look for, for example correct use of past tense, I would only correct past tense errors, even if I saw other glaring errors in the paper. Sometimes this was hard to do, but I wanted to maintain the students' focus on the writing improvement we were working on. If I set a number of errors I would circle, for example, five, then I carefully chose those five and ignored the rest. When I returned the papers, the students were responsible for correcting their own mistakes. If they weren't sure how to do it, they could check with a classmate, and if no one knew, then I would assist. Invariably the students would ask, "Are these the only errors in the paper?" and I would tell them no. They might be disappointed, but they came to understand the value of correcting their own errors when they submitted a piece of writing.

Quick Write

One of the challenges for ELL students when they approach writing is their anxiety about writing their ideas correctly and writing a lot of information in English. This may feel overwhelming when a student is assigned an essay. In order to get students comfortable with the idea of just putting ideas on paper and not worrying about mistakes, we do regular "quick writes." For "quick writes" I give the students a topic and then tell them to write as much as they can for five minutes. They need to keep their pencils on the paper and even if they can't think of anything to write or they are worried about how to spell things, they are supposed to keep writing. At the end of five minutes, the students count how many words they were able to write and they keep track in a log. The objective is that they will see progress in the amount of writing they are able to do in five minutes' time and hopefully apply this fluency to their essay writing.

Cinquain poems

Cinquain poems offer great flexibility in working with ELL students of a variety of language levels. The basic Cinquain formula is as follows, but teachers can modify it as needed according to the student language level.

One noun
Two adjectives
Three gerunds (words + ing)
A short sentence.
A one-word summary
An example of a Cinquain a student might write:
Home
Warm, happy
Loving, welcoming, helping
People you love.
Family

There really is no wrong way to do a Cinquain, students can put key vocabulary words together any way they like to create the message they desire. Teachers may want to use Cinquains to reinforce new content vocabulary and concepts as well.

With these writing activities to try in your classroom, the only thing left is to buy a few boxes of pencils, hand them out to your ELL students and help them discover the possibility of joy in writing. Teachers who use a variety of activities and strategies to help ELL students become comfortable with expressing their ideas in a new language and finding success with small writing tasks, will give their students' confidence for a lifetime of self-expression. I offer this Cinquain poem to sum it up.

Writing
Fun, creative
Thinking, sharing, revising
Lots of ideas.
Proud
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Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing

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"The meaning of even a single word is rather more complex than one might imagine." - Editors of the American Heritage Dictionary, 1980, p. viii "Teacher, do we need our pencils today?" my Puerto Rican elementary students would urgently ask when I came to their classroom to escort them to my English as a Second Language classroom.

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This image gives examples of how you can scaffold reading for ELLs.

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Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know

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Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know

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This article gives an overview of academic language and how it is vital to understand how to assist ELLs in the classroom when it comes to academic language.

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This article helps educators understand the role that academic language plays in their classrooms and in ELL student success.

The article also includes information on social vs. academic language, as well as numerous examples of the different kinds of academic language needed for all students to fully participate in classroom activities and assignments. Additional articles, books, and videos can be found in our Academic Language and ELLs Resource Section.

Academic Language: An Overview

Why is academic language important?

Perhaps you or your colleagues have taught a student, who, like Carlos, gave every sign of being fully "fluent" in English, only to find that the student struggled on more academic kinds of assignments.

Many students, including English language learners (ELLs), have difficulty mastering the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in school, especially if they have never been explicitly taught how to use it. These students include long-term ELLs, students who have attended U.S. schools for much or all of their education but have not yet mastered the language of school.

At the same time, many educators have never learned how to teach academic language since language has traditionally been considered the domain of English as a Second Language (ESL) or English language arts teachers. Yet the use of academic language is more important than ever in preparing students for academic and professional success, particularly in the era of rigorous college- and career-ready standards (such as the Common Core State Standards) that require an increased use of academic language in and across all disciplines.

What is your role?

It may seem daunting at first, but you have an important role to play in supporting your students' academic language development. You do not need an in-depth background in linguistics or ESL methods to do so; rather, you need some guidance and practice in learning how to recognize the role academic language plays in your subject area and classroom, as well as support from colleagues who can guide you in your efforts. Many ESL and bilingual colleagues have extensive experience in identifying students' academic language needs and collaborating with colleagues and will be more than happy to do so if asked!

In this article

To get you started, this article shares three things you need to know about academic language:

The difference between social and academic language

The importance of looking beyond vocabulary

How academic language will be used in your classroom

The article will also share recommended resources for further review. For specific instructional strategies on increasing the use of academic language in your classroom, see these ideas from ELL expert Kristina Robertson, as well as the resources at the end of the article, and check in with your ESL/bilingual colleagues for additional suggestions!

The difference between social and academic language

As the example of Carlos above suggests, teachers may be most familiar with the level of students' social language - the language they hear students using with their friends in the hallways or on the playground. Students typically achieve proficiency in social language long before they have mastered a grade-appropriate level of academic language. As a result, a student's ability to use language in social settings is not necessarily an accurate indicator of their mastery of academic language.

What is academic language?

Academic language is the language of school and it is used in textbooks, essays, assignments, class presentations, and assessments. Academic language is used at all grade levels, although its frequency increases as students get older.

It is also the language of the workplace - for example, the language used to write a business letter as opposed to a casual e-mail to a co-worker.

Examples

One strategy that academic language expert Dr. Robin Scarcella uses to help her college students understand the difference between social and academic language is to provide them with similar sentences or passages that convey the same meaning but that are written in different styles, such as the following:

I like this book more.

This story is more exciting than the first one we read.

Because they were brave.

The soldiers received the medal because of their courage.

If you were to compare other kinds of passages or documents, some examples might include:

A business letter vs. a personal e-mail (noted above)

A newspaper's summary of a research report vs. the actual abstract of the report

A customer review of a book vs. the publisher's description of the book

As your students become more familiar with the differences between social and academic language, it will be easier to identify which is which and what is most appropriate for a certain setting. Kristina Roberston notes in her video clip on our academic language playlist that her students call this "sounding smart" - and they know it when they hear it. When they hear themselves "sounding smart," it is a source of excitement and motivation in the classroom.

Additional resources

To learn more about the distinctions between social and academic language, take a look at the following resources from Colorín Colorado:
Discussion questions:

Have you had any students who were proficient in social language but struggled with academic language?

If so, how did their social and academic language use differ?

Did anything in their language abilities surprise you?

What are some examples that could be used to compare social and academic language in your classroom?

Beyond vocabulary

Many people think of vocabulary first when it comes to academic language. While content-area vocabulary words and terms are certainly an important component, academic language also refers to the words and phrases used to connect these key words and to communicate concepts. Here are two different ways to understand a broader interpretation of academic language.

"Bricks and mortar"

Dr. Cindy Lundgren explains the idea of " bricks and mortar" in our academic language video playlist, where "bricks" are the key vocabulary words and concepts in a sentence, and "mortar" is the language (such as signal words and phrases) holding the bricks together. Here is the example she explains in the video:

Even though bats have wings, they are not birds.

In this sentence, the bricks are the key vocabulary words in bold:

Yet to fully understand the sentence, students must understand the meaning of "even though." Here is a sample definition:

"Even though" means that two items are similar, but they are not the same. In this case, bats and birds both share a similar feature (having wings), but they are not the same animal.

Understanding signal words and phrases is a key step in a student's ability to "unlock" the academic language they encounter, as well as to start using it correctly themselves.

Video: Bricks and mortar in language instruction

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the concept of "bricks and mortar" when thinking about effective vocabulary instruction for ELLs.

TWIPs

Debbie Zacarian and Judie Haynes (2010) also look beyond discrete vocabulary words in their academic language definition, including a range of structures they call TWIPs ( Terms, Words, Idioms, and P hrases). Here are some examples:

Note that, in the second example, the "Declaration" is a single word standing in for the official name of a specific document (the Declaration of Independence). Many textbooks used abbreviated terms in the interest of space, which requires students not only to track the references back to the original term but to build on existing background knowledge about the subject being discussesd. ELLs may need some extra preparation to draw upon or build background knowledge in order to fully understand the academic language being used.

Same Word, Different Meaning

Keep in mind that some key words or terms may have different meanings across disciplines and may be used as different parts of speech in different contexts (i.e., noun vs. verbs):

Lunch table (Social language)
Periodic Table of Elements (Science)
Table of Contents (ELA)
Multiplication tables (Math)
To table (delay) the discussion (Social Studies)

Plot of a story (ELA)
Plot of land (Geography)
Plot ordered pairs on a graph (Math)
To plot a government coup (History)

Branch of government (Social Studies)
Branch of a river (Geography)
To branch out (Idiom)

Your foot (Health)
One foot in length (Math)
Foot in your mouth (Idiom)
Foot of the mountain (Geography)
To foot the bill (Idiom)

As you identify the academic language you will be focusing on in a particular lesson, take a moment to think about whether any of the words or phrases may have another definition so that you can anticipate any possible confusion. You may wish to share your list with your ESL colleagues for input as well.

Cognates

Finally, there is a great tool you can use to bolster academic language for students who speak a language related to English. This is the use of cognates - words that have a similar spelling and meaning in both languages. More than a one third of words in English have a Spanish-language cognate! These often include technical or content-specific words that can help students make a connection between both languages, such as the following:

You can see many more in our list of Spanish-English cognates, and your ESL or bilingual colleagues may be able to think of other related examples as well. Once students know how that a connection exists, they will start noticing more words that are related and they will be able to apply their own existing background knowledge about those words to the vocabulary they encounter. They may need some guidance initially, and we provide some tips on how to use cognates in this Colorín Colorado article to help you get started.

Note: There is such a thing as a false cognate, the most famous one being that embarazada in Spanish is not "embarrassed" - it means "pregnant"! It is not a 100% foolproof strategy - but it is generally a very useful tool.
Discussion questions:

What are examples of key vocabulary words, terms, idioms, and phrases that are useful to know in your subject area?

Can you think of some phrases or signal words that are not content specific but are commonly used in your area (such as "In comparison...")?

Looking at the list of cognates from Colorín Colorado, find 10 words related to your subject area.

Planning for purpose and products

Now that you have some more background on what academic language is, it's time to think about how it is used in your subject area. Academic language is used for a variety of purposes across disciplines:

Students may write a lab report in science class.

Students may orally explain their reasoning in math class.

Students may listen to and compare two famous speeches in history class.

Students may compare a scene from a novel and a movie in an English language arts class.

Domains of language

As you can see in these examples, academic language is used in all four domains of language (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), and all four domains are needed to achieve the above tasks. While the uses of academic language may be more obvious for reading and writing, academic language is also necessary for listening to class discussion, lectures, and debates, as well as delivering speeches, presentations, and oral arguments. Students may need just as much help using academic language in their speaking as in their writing, and they may be at different levels across different domains. Carlos, for example, has strong academic listening and speaking skills, but weaker writing skills.

Students may also need help moving from the word level to the sentence, paragraph, or essay/project level in these sophisticated assignments. The most important thing you can do is to provide examples and model the kinds of language you expect students to use on a regular basis. By doing so, you will help familiarize students with the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in your classroom, as well as the purpose of the language they are using. Our Academic Language booklist and webcast include a number of subject-specific strategies for helping students master the kinds of language needed in different content areas.

This is also another area where ESL/bilingual colleagues can help you; they may have tried and true strategies, graphic organizers, and suggestions for modeling academic language and for helping students transition into more sophisticated assignments. One great example is the process that high school ESL teacher Michelle Lawrence uses to help her students transition from sentences and paragraphs to essays. (See Playlist: Writing Process 2.)

Note: Another helpful tool for communicating expectations about academic language is the use of language objectives , which you can learn more about from Colorín Colorado.
Discussion Questions:

As you consider how academic language is used in your discipline, what kinds of assignments are students expected to produce in your classroom and in higher grades?

What are some examples of academic language that are needed for each of these activities?

How are different language domains used at different steps of the process? (For example, a lab may require spoken language to be used in discussions between partners, and then writing to be used for the final written lab report.)

Based on what you now know about academic language, what kinds of support do you think Carlos needs in his chemistry class?

Do you have any ideas on how Mrs. Wilson can support his written academic language?

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Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know

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This article helps educators understand the role that academic language plays in their classrooms and in ELL student success. The article also includes information on social vs. academic language, as well as numerous examples of the different kinds of academic language needed for all students to fully participate in classroom activities and assignments.

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Language to ELLs

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Language to ELLs

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This article gives strategies for teaching ELLs academic language. ELLs need to be learning English simultaneously with academic content.

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English Language Learners (ELLs, ELs ELDs) face a variety of challenges in the mainstream classroom. Along with social and cultural differences, ELLs may also struggle with the language used in the classroom. This academic language can be difficult for ELLs to grasp and can pose a stumbling block when it comes to classroom success.

"Mastery of academic language is arguably the single most important determinant of academic success for individual students," says David Francis in Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners: Research-Based Recommendations For Instruction and Academic Interventions. "Unfortunately, ELLs often lack the academic language necessary for success in school. This lack of proficiency in academic language affects ELLs' ability to comprehend and analyze texts in middle and high school, limits their ability to write and express themselves effectively, and can hinder their acquisition of academic content in all academic areas."

So what can mainstream teachers do to help ELLs master academic language? First, it's important to understand the key components of academic language. Linguist Jim Cummins distinguished between two different types of language: Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).

Recognizing the differences between these elements of second language acquisition will help you develop effective strategies for teaching academic language to ELLs.

Understanding BICS

Cummins classifies Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) as the language system that a person uses in everyday, informal types of communication. The language used for BICS is typically cognitively undemanding and developed largely through social interactions.

This type of language is typically developed well before students become proficient in academic language; English learners can become proficient in BICS as quickly as a year. BICS is predominantly oral and uses Tier 1 vocabulary.

For this reason, it is important not to judge students' language proficiency on their speaking abilities alone. Students with a high level of BICS might be able to hold a conversation about a familiar topic or converse well in high-context situations. However, they may not have the linguistic sophistication to engage in academic discussions without the intentional development of academic language.

Understanding CALP

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) measures mastery of the rigorous, intellectual vocabulary of content areas, which Cummins states is a key distinction from BICS. Academic language refers to the language needed by students to conquer classroom tasks, from understanding basic content vocabulary and directions to navigating advanced textbooks.

"To me, academic language is when teachers use keywords and important content area concepts when working with ELs," says Dara Schmick, an ESL teacher at Rutherford Elementary School and the Elementary ESL Department Chair for the Central Dauphin School District in Harrisburg, PA. "It is important for teachers to speak to students in a way that promotes language in every aspect of their school day."

Mastering academic language is critical to the academic success of ELLs. Cummins theorized that the development of CALP can take from four to seven years, independent of other factors such as language proficiency level, age and time of arrival in a school setting, degree of academic language proficiency in the student's first language, and the level of in-school language support.

How Can You Help Students Achieve Academic Language Mastery?

Successful understanding of academic language requires a partnership between mainstream teachers and ESL teachers, Schmick says, noting, "Teachers need to all be on the same page so that the academic language is comprehensive."

Working together, mainstream and ESL teachers can help ensure English Language Learners have success when it comes to conquering academic language.

"Some mainstream teachers have the skills and strategies to work with ELs and can use these with all of their students," Schmick says. "However, there are times when teachers are unsure of how to work with these students."

If you're teaching ELLs in your classroom, consider these tips for teaching academic language:

Introduce and reinforce academic language regularly.

It's important to preview text and identify words that might be new to students, says ELLs specialist Kristina Robertson on Colorin Colorado!, a bilingual site for educators and families of English Language Learners. She suggests writing words and phrases on the board and having students write them on index cards. She also recommends using visuals, acting, or synonyms to help students understand the meaning of a word. "Reinforce the newly learned language by asking the students to draw it, act it out, or use it in an appropriate sentence," she says.

Provide opportunities for review.

Consider creating a "word wall" of academic language terms so that students can refer to what they've learned throughout the year. Students can also use journals or word logs to reference academic vocabulary that they've learned throughout the year

Use academic language throughout all content areas.

"As the classroom teacher, it's important to integrate academic language into your daily classroom practice," says teacher Marine Freibrun on Minds-in-bloom.com. "Use the words in your objectives for other lessons, use the words in classroom discussions, and ask students to use them in their writing across disciplines. I also use academic language tickets to have students practice their words after lessons have been taught. I use them for tickets out, as morning work, or as independent practice. Just because you teach the lesson, doesn't mean you or your students are done with the word. It's important to continue the practice throughout the year."

Use resources for support.

Mainstream teachers should feel comfortable relying on other teachers or resources to help ELLs in their classrooms.

"It is imperative that mainstream teachers continue to use professional development opportunities in order to enhance the necessary skills needed to work with ELs," Schmick says. "If this is not possible for them, they can also use their ESL teacher as a resource for their own classroom. ESL teachers are there to not only help ELs succeed but to help classroom teachers with the challenges of educating ELs."

Resources such as Continental's TEAM Toolkits: Teaching ELs for Academic Language Mastery can be useful go-to supports when it comes to academic language and ELLs. The kits feature structured activities in listening, reading, writing, and speaking to help English learners develop grade-level academic language skills.

Academic language is an essential component of education and is critical for success in school-and it poses unique challenges for English language learners. By intentionally developing academic language for your ELLs, you will support their academic success.

Looking for more ESL/ELD/ELL resources for your classroom? Check out Continental's wide variety of instructional materials for K-12 students.
This blog was originally published on September 13, 2017. It was updated on October 19, 2022.

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Language to ELLs | Continental

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It's important for mainstream teachers to know the basics of academic language and develop strategies for teaching academic language to ELLs.

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Comparing and Contrasting First and Second Language Acquisition:Implications for Language Teachers 

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Comparing and Contrasting First and Second Language Acquisition:Implications for Language Teachers 

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This article compares first and second language acquisition. A teacher needs to have a good understanding of both.

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First Language vs. Second Language Acquisition

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First Language vs. Second Language Acquisition

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This image compares the two language acquisition theories side by side. It is a great visual for teachers to understand the difference between the two.

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This article goes into detail about language objectives and gives guidance for writing/creating them.

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The foundation of a good lesson is a strong objective. This article goes into detail about creating strong language objectives.

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Reflections on Teaching Multilingual Learners

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Writing language objectives can be hard! Teachers are generally comfortable writing content objectives because those are based on content standards that teachers are familiar with and are sometimes…

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This article lists strategies for oral language development.

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Oral Language Development

The development of infants' oral language begins as caregivers socially interact with them (Honig, 2007). Oral language includes speaking and listening. Young children learn about their world as they communicate with others. Oral language skills are an important predictor of later language and literacy development (NELP, 2010).

Children begin to develop language as they babble and coo. Soon they are repeating sounds such as da da and then they speak their first word. One-word utterances lead to multiple words, followed by more complex sentences. Oral language is a process that is developed by using spoken language.

Language greatly increases during the preschool years. Starting at the age of 3 years old, children should be learning at least 2,500 new words each year (Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2004). Therefore, they need to be exposed to new words everyday.

Oral language is used for many purposes. Children use language as they engage in social exchanges and playful encounters. Language is used to make requests, share information, and ask and answer questions. Thus, children's comprehension of language increases during daily interactions.

Children's vocabulary expands as they share their experiences. One powerful way for children to increase their oral language is through hearing the spoken word through meaningful conversations. The more words children hear and comprehend, the faster their language develops (Honig, 2007).

Ways to Promote Language Development

Infants and toddlers learn language as adults talk, recite nursery rhymes, tell stories and sing songs. Adults should imitate the sounds infants say and engage in two-way conversations by taking turns listening and speaking (Morrow, 2012).

Infants and toddlers benefit when caregivers describe feeding, toileting and napping routines. "It is time for lunch. I see that you are telling me that you are hungry. I am going to carry you over to your high chair. Then I am going to bring you some bread, cheese, and a banana to eat."

As teachers and parents playfully and purposefully interact with children throughout the day, they promote language development. For example, caregivers can use communication props such as toy telephones and puppets to expand conversations. They can read frequently and expressively. These activities will facilitate infants and toddlers language development.

Give children opportunities to talk. Ask open-ended questions to promote discussion. Actively listen to children and then clarify and extend the conversation.

Promote speaking and listening throughout the day. As children arrive, model greetings and appropriate social exchanges. During play, scaffold children's language by asking purposeful questions, embedding new words into conversations, and defining new and challenging words.

Read often, even to very young children. Children develop comprehension skills during read aloud, especially if they are involved in exploring and discussing the story and illustrations.

Be a language model and describe children's actions. During outside time, give children opportunities to learn rules and problem-solve as they play new games.

Promote peer-to-peer conversations and make home-school connections during meals and snacks. Encourage children to take an active role in conversations by sharing their thoughts and ideas with others.

Sing songs together. Children enjoy music. As they listen and sing the words in songs they are developing their receptive and expressive language skills.

Use show-and-tell to build oral language skills. With small groups of children, teach them how to share the "who, what, where, when and why" of their object. Children can learn to point and describe the main features of their item. This will promote a more focused showing and telling and build oral language skills.

Retell stories. Storytelling can teach children many language skills, including oral language comprehension. Hearing a story requires children to be active listeners. Teachers can ask children to make predictions and answer meaningful questions. After telling a story, encourage children to retell the story.

Children develop expressive language as they retell a story. As they recount the details of a story, the complexity of their vocabulary and spoken word increases. Retelling stories also helps improve a child's comprehension of a story.

Children can retell stories in many different ways. They can act out a story or use props, flannel boards or sequence cards to tell the tale.

Select books that have topics of high interest.

Use props. Have the children help create the props for stories' retell.

Work with small groups of children.

Retell the story multiple times.

Support and demonstrate as needed.

References

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc. (2012). Sounds Beginnings: A workshop on early literacy. Instructors guide. Berkeley, CA.: CORE.

Honig, A. S. (2007). Oral language development. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6-7), 581-613.

Morrow, L. M. (2012). Literacy development in the early years. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, DHHS. (2010). Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Roskos, K. A., Tabors, P. O., & Lenhart, L. A. (2004). Oral language and early literacy in preschool. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Oral Language Development | Extension | University of Nevada, Reno

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The development of infants' oral language begins as caregivers socially interact with them. Oral language includes speaking and listening. Young children learn about their world as they communicate with others.

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This image lists the components of oral language. It is important for a teacher to understand what oral language is.

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ESL and Bilingual Education: Understanding the Differences

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ESL and Bilingual Education: Understanding the Differences

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This article helps clarify the difference between the two programs, ESL and bilingual.

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It seems that many people use English as a Second Language (ESL) and Bilingual Education are one in the same, but they most assuredly are not. To help understand the differences, use the Venn Diagram below.

ESL programs help students who have limited English proficiency. The objective is to help students who do not identify English as their primary language learn English. These programs are extremely important, as the teacher strives to help students acquire English proficiency in order to succeed academically in English-based curriculum schools.

It's important to note that the students in the class may not all share the same native language. For this reason, the teacher addresses the class only in English. The coursework in the program focuses on teaching the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Many ESL students come from countries outside North America or celebrate different cultures. ESL teachers also strive to help students integrate into society and understand local customs, norms and values, while not replacing students' own customs, norms, and values.

The importance of ESL is reflected in the fact that many districts even require all elementary teachers to have an ESL certification. You'll want to make sure to research your top choice school to determine if you need ESL.

Bilingual Education teachers instruct in two different languages. The educator focuses on teaching content in both languages, such as geography, history, math, etc. While English is used as one language of instruction, students are not specifically taught English language lessons. By incorporating both the use of English and the students' native language equally, their English language skills will continue to develop and strengthen.

The goal of bilingual classroom instruction is to help students become fluent in both languages.

Like ESL classrooms, students may also come from different cultural backgrounds. Teachers should be mindful of this and help all students feel comfortable, respected and valued in the classroom.

Both ESL and Bilingual Education teachers are in high demand. In a rapidly diversifying world, the use of English is on the rise. Since 1965, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has quadrupled; this means many students are entering our school systems without the simple tools needed to succeed, such as understanding the language of instruction - English. One out of every four students speak a language other than English in their home and our school systems are struggling to provide every student with teachers they need. Every student is equally important, and ESL and Bilingual teachers truly go above and beyond to meet the needs of all our students.

Here at Texas Teachers, we understand the importance and value of ESL and Bilingual Teachers. Mexican immigrants represent the largest group of U.S. immigrants, which is why our efforts are primarily focused on certifying more English-Spanish bilingual teachers. While there is a 50% increase in the need of these teachers, only 20% of the need has been met. If you're ready to help Texas Teachers close the gap, apply to become an ESL or Bilingual Education teacher today. Every certified teacher brings us one step closer.

If you need more inspiration to become an ESL or Bilingual teacher, both of which promote bilingualism, check out this list of qualities attributed to bi- or multilingual speakers:

Increased chance of getting hired

Higher salary

Advanced cognitive skills

Bridges cultural and heritage gaps

Easier to learn additional languages

Improved pragmatic skills

Multicultural sensitivity

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ESL and Bilingual Education: Understanding the Differences - Texas Teachers

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It seems that many people use English as a Second Language (ESL) and Bilingual Education are one in the same, but they most assuredly are not. To help

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Program Models for Teaching English Language Learners

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Program Models for Teaching English Language Learners

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This article gives content about how to implement these programs (ESL/bilingual) in the classroom.

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Children from families in which English is not the language of the home represent a rapidly increasing percentage of students enrolled in U.S. schools. Language minority students can be found in schools across the country, not just those in large cities or in areas near the U.S.-Mexican border. All schools must be prepared to meet the challenge of an increasingly diverse student population, including many students who are not proficient in English.

The effectiveness of various program models for language minority students remains the subject of controversy. Although there may be reasons to claim the superiority of one program model over another in certain situations (Collier 1992; Ramirez, Yuen, and Ramey 1991), a variety of programs can be effective. The choice should be made at the local level after careful consideration of the needs of the students involved and the resources available.

ESL program models

ESL programs (rather than bilingual programs) are likely to be used in districts where the language minority population is very diverse and represents many different languages. ESL programs can accommodate students from different language backgrounds in the same class, and teachers do not need to be proficient in the home language(s) of their students.

ESL pull-out
This is generally used in elementary school settings. Students spend part of the school day in a mainstream classroom, but are pulled out for a portion of each day to receive instruction in English as a second language.
ESL class period
This is generally used in middle school settings. Students receive ESL instruction during a regular class period and usually receive course credit. They may be grouped for instruction according to their level of English proficiency.
The ESL resource center
This is a variation of the pull-out design, bringing students together from several classrooms or schools. The resource center concentrates ESL materials and staff in one location and is usually staffed by at least one full-time ESL teacher.

Bilingual program models

All bilingual program models use the students' home language, in addition to English, for instruction. These programs are most easily implemented in districts with a large number of students from the same language background. Students in bilingual programs are grouped according to their first language, and teachers must be proficient in both English and the students' home language.

Early-exit bilingual programs
These are designed to help children acquire the English skills required to succeed in an English-only mainstream classroom. These programs provide some initial instruction in the students' first language, primarily for the introduction of reading, but also for clarification. Instruction in the first language is phased out rapidly, with most students mainstreamed by the end of first or second grade.
Late-exit programs
These differ from early-exit programs "primarily in the amount and duration that English is used for instruction as well as the length of time students are to participate in each program" (Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, 1991). Students remain in late-exit programs throughout elementary school and continue to receive 40% or more of their instruction in their first language, even when they have been reclassified as fluent-English-proficient.
Two-way bilingual programs
Also called developmental bilingual programs, these group language minority students from a single language background in the same classroom with language majority (English-speaking) students. Ideally, there is a nearly 50/50 balance between language minority and language majority students. Instruction is provided in both English and the minority language. Students serve as native-speaker role models for their peers. Two-way bilingual classes may be taught by a single teacher who is proficient in both languages or by two teachers, one of whom is bilingual.

Other program models

Some programs provide neither instruction in the native language nor direct instruction in ESL. However, instruction is adapted to meet the needs of students who are not proficient in English.

Sheltered English or content-based programs
These group language minority students from different language backgrounds together in classes where teachers use English as the medium for providing content area instruction, adapting their language to the proficiency level of the students. They may also use gestures and visual aids to help students understand. Although the acquisition of English is one of the goals of sheltered English and content-based programs, instruction focuses on content rather than language.
Structured immersion programs
These use only English, but there is no explicit ESL instruction. As in sheltered English and content-based programs, English is taught through the content areas. Structured immersion teachers have strong receptive skills in their students' first language and have a bilingual education or ESL teaching credential. The teacher's use of the children's first language is limited primarily to clarification of English instruction. Most students are mainstreamed after 2 or 3 years.

Conclusion

Successful program models for promoting the academic achievement of language minority students are those that enable these students to develop academic skills while learning English. The best program organization is one that is tailored to meet the linguistic, academic, and affective needs of students; provides language minority students with the instruction necessary to allow them to progress through school at a rate commensurate with their native-English-speaking peers; and makes the best use of district and community resources.

Citations

Excerpted from: Rennie, J. (1993). ESL and Bilingual Program Models. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. Digest based on an article in (August, 1993) Streamlined Seminar (vol. 12, no.1). National Association of Elementary School Principals.

References

Collier, V. P. (1992). A Synthesis of studies examining long-term language minority student data on academic achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16, p. 187-212.

Garcia, E. (1991). Education of linguistically and culturally diverse students: Effective instructional practices. Educational practice report number 1. Santa Cruz, CA and Washington, DC: National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 338 099)

Lucas T., Henze, R., & Donato, R. (1990). Promoting the success of Latino language minority students: An Exploratory study of six high schools. Harvard Educational Review, 60 (1), 315-340.

McKeon, D. (1987). Different types of ESL programs. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics.

Pease-Alvarez, L., Garcia, E., & Espinosa, P. (1991). Effective instruction for language minority students: An early childhood case study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6, 347-361.

Ramirez, J. D., Yuen, S. D., & Ramey, D. R. (1991). Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit, and late-exit transitional bilingual education programs for language-minority children. San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International.

Tikunoff, W., Ward, B., van Broekhuizen, D., Romero, M., Castaneda, L.V., Lucas, T., & Katz, A. (1991). A Descriptive study of significant features of exemplary special alternative instructional programs. Washington: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs.

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Program Models for Teaching English Language Learners

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Children from families in which English is not the language of the home represent a rapidly increasing percentage of students enrolled in U.S. schools. Language minority students can be found in schools across the country, not just those in large cities or in areas near the U.S.-Mexican border.

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Creating a Plan of Action for ELL Family Engagement

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Creating a Plan of Action for ELL Family Engagement

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This article talks about how to implement family engagement in an ELLs education. Family engagement is very beneficial for anELLs learning.

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Creating a Plan of Action for ELL Family Engagement

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The following strategies provide a roadmap for building family engagement among the families of English language learners (ELLs) in your school community. Supporting immigrant families For related ideas, see the following: A. What you need to know A good place to begin developing a new approach to family engagement is by soliciting ideas from the school's ELL community - they know what they need.

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WORKING TOGETHER TO SUPPORTENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS:

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WORKING TOGETHER TO SUPPORTENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS:

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This article explains what family/community engagement is and what it can practically look like for an ELLs language development.